Can volcanic eruptions cause ozone loss? The answer is yes. After volcanic eruptions, the sulfur dioxides emitted during the eruption form sulfate aerosols, which are tiny droplets suspending in the atmosphere. When the sulfate aerosol is transported to the Antarctic stratosphere, the ozone-depleting substances are activated there and subsequently, the Antarctic ozone layer is thinned.

Scientists from the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Paleontology reported that analysis of fossil specimens of a flower called Nanjinganthus from the Early Jurassic (more than 174 million years ago) suggests that flowers originated 50 million years earlier than previously thought.

Researchers from Shanghai Center for Plant Stress Biology of Chinese Academy of Sciences and other institutions identified and characterized an F-box protein-encoding gene Regulation of AtALMT1 Expression 1 (RAE1) that regulates the level of STOP1.

A research team from the Institute of Atmospheric Physics conducted three-month simultaneous real-time online measurements of aerosol particle composition at ground level and 260 m on the Beijing 325 m meteorological tower using two aerosol mass spectrometers.

The Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf of Mexico had a profound impact on the Gulf Coast marshes. An understanding of how indigenous oil-degrading bacteria respond to oil exposure is important for the remediation and management of oil-contaminated marshes. Dr. WANG Jiaoyue, a researcher at Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, together with her companions, evaluated the effects of oil exposure on indigenous oil-degrading bacteria in Phragmites australis dominated marsh soil by a greenhouse mesocosm study.

Fc-based therapeutic proteins include therapeutic antibodies and Fc-fusion proteins. Therapeutic monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) with high affinity and specificity are now widely used in treatment of cancer, immune disorders, viral infection and other diseases. Fc-fusion proteins are also emerging as promising biopharmaceuticals because of the additional benefits from Fc fragment.